Classroom Management

Barrie Bennett - Peter Smilanich

"The truly educated person is the person who has learned how to learn and how to change."

Who will benefit from reading this book?We have written this book so that experienced teachers, beginning teachers, and educators in staff develoment positions will be able to extend their thinking and skills related to classroom management. If you are in a mentoring role or in a position of helping a teacher who is experiencing classroom management problems, you will also find the ideas in this book meaningful and practical.

What is the essential message in the book?The message focuses on increasing the reader's understanding of how effective teachers prevent and respond to misbehaviour to create a learning environment that encourages student learning. It is a humanistic approach based on what we see and hear effective teachers do in classrooms. We at times extend that into what writers and researchers such as Dreikurs, Adler, Glasser, Ginott and Kounin have to say about effective teachers.

Three beliefs guide the structure of this book:We view the teacher as a critical thinker and life-long learner. You are asked to keep in mind that the ideas in this book are possibly only right for the authors. No one-best-way to teach exists, so please read critically with an eye to your circumstances and instincts.

We combine the skills and knowledge of effective teachers and administrators with a digestible amount of theory. The theory is designed to help readers understand why teachers and students behave the way they do, and from that, to understand why a particular approach does or does not work.

We are convinced that effective classroom management is embedded in what is known about classroom and school improvement and the process of educational change. Teacher change and understanding of the process of change occurs most readily in a supportive environment highlighted by an atmosphere of collaboration and collegiality. Effective classroom management systems do not occur in school cultures devoid of collegiality and collaboration. (Collegiality refers to the shared power that encourages affective qualities such as trust and kindness among the staff; collaboration refers to the ability of the staff to work and learn together, which in turn provides an avenue to confront and resolve issues and conflicts.)